“The potential feature is a sleeker way to integrate fingerprint recognition technology into a laptop, especially when measured against current options that place a separate fingerprint reader elsewhere on the device. “

According to the patent, Microsoft would embed a fingerprint
sensor in the Windows key, thereby inserting its fingerprint reader directly
into the standard keyboard. The potential feature is a sleeker way to integrate
fingerprint recognition technology into a laptop, especially when measured
against current options that place a separate fingerprint reader elsewhere on
the device.

As with any patent, there’s no guarantee that Microsoft will follow through with its Windows key fingerprint sensor. However, fingerprint recognition technology is integral to the ongoing efforts to eliminate passwords, and is becoming an increasingly common feature on laptops and other mobile devices. For instance, Lenovo recently added a fingerprint reader to a ThinkPad designed for the healthcare industry.

Microsoft’s proposed scanner would complement the biometric authentication features in Windows Hello, which already supports fingerprint authentication on devices from computer manufacturers like Samsung, Acer, and Dell.